Volunteers from High Tech Industry

“Being a mentor for the 4-H program has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. This has been one of the few times in my life where I feel I can give back to the community, enjoy what I do, make new friends, be challenged and watch the students grow both technically and personally. For me, being a 4-H mentor has been extremely satisfying, rewarding and fun.

Mentors are a key part of the student's growth. There are statistics that can show the success of the 4-H program, but it goes deeper than the numbers indicate. Working with the students you can see and feel the excitement and enthusiasm. The students learning from the mentors goes far beyond the technical skills they acquire through the program, they also learn life skills. From the program the students also learn about ownership, commitment, self-confidence and leadership.”

~ Steve Kassel, Tech Wizard Mentor

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• 2005: Intel employees and retirees volunteer over 600 hours as mentors
• 2005 GIS-Professionals from the USDA Service Center and City of Hillsboro volunteer as mentors
• 2004 8 GIS-Professionals from City of Hillsboro volunteered 600 hours as mentors for 4-H GIS Project pilot,
• ILN Mentor was Key Note speaker at 2002 National 4-H Technology Conference, Minneapolis
• Participated in the development of national and regional Extension volunteer recruitment videos - especially those targeted at involving Latino volunteers and Corporate America in Extension Programs of all kinds, 4-H “Make a Difference” volunteer promotional video by Northwest Regional 4-H, ‘Give’ campaign by KGW Northwest Channel 8 (NBC affiliate), and the ‘How the West will Win’ film by New Mexico State University in the year 2001
• Provided highly specialized volunteers who contributed over 2000 volunteer hours to mentoring 100+ youth in the after-school 4-H Web Wizard program (during normal work hours) so that youth learn state of the art technology skills,
• Provided 20+ Latino volunteers with technical expertise to develop and deliver bilingual computer curriculum to youth, families, and community members through Extension programs,
• Provided High Tech Latino volunteers, who participated in Extension advisory groups,
• Provided 4 High Tech Latino participants for the statewide Extension needs assessment,
• Generated volunteer, community, and corporate support for the replication and expansion of the 4-H Web Wizard project in Oregon as well as other states; Underway is a proposal to expand the program to rural Oregon (Boardman as pilot site) in 2002,
• Sent teams of involved volunteers to present to NAE4-HA and Extension-related (USDA, CYFAR) conferences to assist with the dissemination of information and share ‘key learnings’ regarding working with Latino audiences and involving Corporate America in Extension programming and support

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